Tag: LIRS

It's Sunday morning, is your church supporting the resettlement of third-worlders, Muslims, to America?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Because we have so many new readers I decided to remind all of you that six of the nine major refugee resettlement contractors pretend they are working for all of you (good Christian and Jewish people) when they resettle thousands of refugees to hundreds of towns and cities across the country (and leave the refugees struggling on their own after only a few months!).

Welcome one and all to America! Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, M.Sp.S., auxiliary bishop of Seattle and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Migration. Bishops cheer Obama: http://www.usccb.org/news/2014/14-196.cfm

If your church is affiliated with any of these ‘religious’ groups (federal government contractors all), you must begin to ask your local pastors, priests and rabbis what they are doing.  I bet most have no clue about what is being done in their name!

Maybe tell them if they want to give real Christian and Jewish charity they can give time or money to help refugees where they live in the world, or bring a family to America, take care of them and assimilate them without passing their care, or the cost of their care, on to US and local taxpayers. 

Now that would be real charity!

The groups in red are paid millions of your tax dollars to resettle refugees across the country.  As members of the Refugee Council USA, they all lobbied Senators this week to support bringing in 65,000 Syrians very soon.
They all lobbied for the ‘Gang of Eight’ Senate (so-called) Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill and they all support Obama’s decision to spread the tens of thousands of Unaccompanied Alien Children across the country.  And, no surprise, they endorsed Obama’s New Americans plan to “seed” your communities with “new” citizens.
~US Conference of Catholic Bishops (probably all Catholic Churches in America are ruled by the Bishops, correct me if I’m wrong!)
~Episcopal Migration Ministries (new name Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society) (Affiliates map)

~World Relief (National Association of Evangelicals) (Denominations):

Advent Christian General Conference
Anglican Mission in America
Assemblies of God
Brethren Church , The
Brethren in Christ Church
Christian & Missionary Alliance
Christian Reformed Church in North America
Christian Union
Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.)
Church of the Nazarene
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference
Converge Worldwide
Elim Fellowship
Evangelical Assembly of Presbyterian Churches
Evangelical Church , The
Evangelical Congregational Church
Evangelical Free Church of America
Evangelical Friends Church International
Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Every Nation Churches
Fellowship of Evangelical Churches
Foursquare Church, The
Free Methodist Church USA
General Association of General Baptist
Grace Communion International
Great Commission Churches
International Pentecostal Church of Christ
International Pentecostal Holiness Church
Missionary Church, Inc.
North American Baptist Conference
Open Bible Churches
Presbyterian Church in America
Primitive Methodist Church USA
Salvation Army , The
Transformation Ministries
United Brethren in Christ
US Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches
Vineyard, USA
Wesleyan Church, The

~Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (Denominations/church bodies):

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),

Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod LC-MS,

Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (LELCA).

~Church World Service (Denominations):
By the way, Church World Service does the Crop Hunger Walk.  Your local church may be helping fund CWS through that.

~Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (see affiliates).
If you want to know more about how much money they receive, here is just a snapshot for one year (2012).  Check out some of the salaries they receive mostly from you!
An afterthought:  I plan to look into the Salvation Army’s involvement in World Relief.  We thought it was one safe place to donate without fearing our money would go to a political agenda!

Lutheran refugee contractor cheers for Obama amnesty (no surprise!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have reported for years on how the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland is one of the leading advocacy groups in the nation involved in the open borders political movement, so this is no surprise.

Before you read on, have a look at a recent Form 990 (page 9) for LIRS.  Their income from gifts, grants and contributions was $41,757,518 and $40,417,752 came from “government grants.”  That means that you, the American taxpayer, “contributed” 97% of their income. Check out their Baltimore digs and note that their income jumped $10 million from 2011 to 2012.

Obama gets a big smooch from LIRS! Linda Hartke, CEO of LIRS makes over $200,000 a year in salary and benefits (you, the American taxpayer, pay her salary) http://lirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Linda_Hartke_Bio.pdf

LIRS could not exist and be lobbying for amnesty if it wasn’t for the fact that you pay their salaries and overhead! Galling isn’t it?

One aspect of their enthusiasm for illegal aliens being granted permission to live and work here that I don’t get is this—they are charged with finding jobs for the refugees they resettle and there is no doubt that the Obama reprieve for millions of illegal aliens will put those “new Americans” in direct competition with job-hungry refugees for low-skilled jobs.  Doesn’t LIRS see that?

Here is LIRS cheering the President last Thursday….

From PR Newswire:

BALTIMORE, Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), and supporters all across America, welcome the significant steps taken today by the Obama Administration that invite our neighbors out of the shadows, bring greater hope and security in the place of fear and stabilize the lives of millions of immigrants living in the United States. The President’s historic announcement of new immigration policies brings hope to immigrant families, aids our communities in being places of welcome, and strengthens our nation by living out American values, and lifting up our economy.  These actions are grounded in our history as a nation that has been renewed and strengthened by each generation of newcomers.

The policies announced today reflect American values of justice and are an important step towards a more humane immigration system. It is our hope that the President’s demonstrated leadership will lead to Congressional action to rebuild an immigration system which further strengthens us as a nation and respects the rights and dignity of people who have come to the United States seeking refuge, family or the dignity of work and wages.

“Today, millions of lives have been changed for the better.  We must continue to lift up the American tradition of being a welcoming society that honors freedom, equality, and opportunity and values each and every person,” said Linda Hartke, LIRS President and CEO. “The President’s actions are a significant step in the right direction – promoting family unity and offering vital solutions for our economy and country.”

As a faith-based organization, LIRS has long advocated for an immigration system that encourages and supports keeping families together, and better protects children, migrants, refugees and other vulnerable persons. The President’s actions today are consistent with LIRS’s core principles of respect for human dignity and the biblical call to welcome the newcomer.

They go on to say they won’t be satisfied until they get the whole ball of wax—comprehensive immigration reform which they lobbied for in 2013.  Of course, we know that the Senate-passed S.744 had many goodies that will flow directly to LIRS and other refugee contractors.

There is contact information (see their press release). If you are a Lutheran who disagrees with what LIRS is doing in your name, you should contact them and let them know how you feel.

For those who want to learn more about LIRS, we have an extensive archive here.  For those following the Wyoming controversy, LIRS in Baltimore is the parent organization of Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, here (one of our top three posts over the last week).

LIRS is one of the top nine federal resettlement contractors.  Don’t be fooled by the fact that they call themselves Voluntary Agencies.  They are all almost completely funded by you, the American taxpayer.

Lutherans give testimony to Senate, we want more money and more migrants too!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
LIRS CEO Hartke makes a cool $200,000 plus salary for her “humanitarian” work and you pay for it!

They are all at it!  With their hands out to Caesar!

It is not just the Catholic Bishops wanting more money from you to take care of the unaccompanied aliens, another major contractor Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (96% funded by you) had its hand stretched out to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

Here is the testimony of Linda Hartke, CEO of the multi-million dollar federal contractor LIRS.  All good Lutherans need to know what LIRS is doing in your name.  She wants ORR to create more opportunities for NGOs to take care of the “children” and get them legal representation.  And, of course they would be happy to get a larger federal grant to do that work in partnership with the government.

We have written many posts on LIRS, click here for our complete archive.   Back in May, LIRS began a lobbying campaign for the “children” called #ActOfLove, here.

And, here, are all of our posts on the ‘unaccompanied minors’ crisis.

Lutherans resettle 10,095 refugees in US in FY2013

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

What do you think the odds are that a paper like the Sacramento Bee would publish a press release from us verbatim as if its a news story?   Zip, zero, nada!    However, if what a refugee resettlement CONTRACTOR says (because they are good people) is published with nary a critical commentary.

LIRS CEO Hartke: In FY2014 we are focusing on bringing Tutsis to your towns!

Here is most of a press release from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) published today in a paper near you!  LIRS is one of nine major federal contractors resettling refugees, but note (LOL!) they still call them “voluntary agencies.”

Headline is:  LIRS Helps U.S. Reach Refugee Admissions Target for First Time Since 1980  (emphasis is mine):

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2013 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) resettled over 10,000 refugees in fiscal year 2013, thereby contributing, as America’s second-largest resettlement agency, to the United States reaching its refugee admissions target for the first time since 1980.

“LIRS has resettled 10,095 refugees in 2013, including many refugee kids who arrived without a parent or guardian and in desperate need of protection and human care,” said Terry Abeles, LIRS Director for Refugee Resettlement. “This achievement comes as we approach our 75th anniversary in 2014, and marks an important new milestone in a history in which we’ve helped nearly 400,000 refugees rebuild their lives.”  

[Readers, up until 1980 they may have helped refugees out of Christian charity, today they receive millions of taxpayer dollars to bring immigrants to your towns and they hope to have even a larger clientele when (if!) Comprehensive Immigration Reform becomes law.—ed]

“LIRS is proud to have worked with our outstanding affiliates to play a key role in the nationwide effort that brought 69,930 refugees to safety and new lives in the United States in fiscal year 2013,” said Abeles. “That number is nearer to the authorized ceiling – 70,000 in 2013 – than in any year since 1980.”

“Reaching this threshold demonstrates this Administration’s efforts to create a refugee admissions program that meets the important security screening standards required by the American people and the growing humanitarian need,” added Abeles. “Research shows that refugees become successfully employed, tax-paying citizens and contribute in a relatively short period of time to the well-being of the United States.”

In fiscal year 2013, refugees were resettled in 186 communities in 49 states. For FY2014, President Barack Obama has authorized the admission of up to 70,000 refugees. Over 60 nationalities are expected to be admitted, with continued strong arrivals from Iraq, Burma, and Bhutan.

“Thousands of people overseas and across the United States make the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program possible each year,” added Abeles. “Their successes are a testament to the effective partnership between the public and private sectors, and express America’s commitment to being a country of refuge.”

LIRS welcomes refugees and migrants on behalf of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, thereby following God’s call to welcome and lifting up the importance of congregations in the work of welcome.

In the next paragraph they say they are lobbying for “comprehensive immigration reform.”

Check out LIRS’s digs at “Don’t break our rice bowls!”  (LIRS income $31 million and $30 million is from you, the taxpayer!)

Big news from LIRS website!

CEO Linda Hartke says this year they are going to put a focus on bringing Banyamulenge Tutsis from the Democratic Republic of Congo to your towns!